Menú secundario

  

 

February 18-21, 2008. Second Mission to Nigeria. The Club of Madrid’s second planned Mission to Nigeria will be led by Cassam Uteem, former President of Mauritius. The main objective of the mission will be to support political party leaders to open up space for women to actively participate in politics at all levels. The delegation will also dialogue with high level officials on the electoral law reform.

March 3-8, 2008. First Mission to Uganda. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway, will co-lead the first Club of Madrid mission to Uganda, coinciding with the International Women’s Day. The delegation will support female parliamentarians and share experiences to enhance their leadership skills and increase their effectiveness. A particular emphasis will be placed on the passing of legislative bills related to women’s rights.


 

---

Past Activities

---

   

 

December 11-15, 2007. Third Mission to Sierra Leone.

Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President of Sri Lanka, led the Club of Madrid delegation to Sierra Leone which also included Gloria Musu Scott, member of the Liberian Senate and former Chief Justice of Liberia. The mission focused on this occasion on building and strengthening the capacities of newly elected female parliamentarians and government officials, as well as on advocating before political parties and new governmental authorities for creating equal opportunities for women in decision-making.

See the Press Release.

---

                                  

 

November 27-30, 2007. First Mission to Nigeria.

Club of Madrid Member Wim Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, led the first mission to Nigeria on November 27-30, along with Miria Matembe, Former Member of the Ugandan and Pan African Parliaments, and Former Minister for Ethics and Integrity. The Club of Madrid’s first planned Mission to Nigeria followed the April presidential and legislative elections and the subsequent seating of the new Parliament. The main objectives of the mission were to provide capacity building for women leaders, especially those recently elected, and to increase gender awareness among male politicians.

See the Press Release.

---

                                  

 

October 2 - 6, 2007. Nigerian Summit on Women in Governance

 
African Women Leaders Project Coordinator, Rosemary Kaduru, participated in the National Summit on Women in Governance last October in Obudu, Nigeria. It gathered together a broad group of women political leaders from all over the country with the purpose of establishing an action plan that will guide the work of women in governance through 2011. Participants warmly welcomed Ms. Kaduru´s presentation on the Club of Madrid and its African Women Leader’s initiative. The AWLP coordinator, along with project partner organization in Nigeria, Women‘s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), also had the opportunity to discuss the project in greater depth with various outstanding women politicians.

For more information about the mission, please visit the missions and activities section.

 

 

---

 

August 26 - September 5, 2007. Preparatory Mission to Uganda

 

Following consultations with stakeholders in Uganda, Club of Madrid conducted a preparatory mission to Kampala at the end of August. The mission’s objectives were to present the Club of Madrid and the AWLP, analyse Uganda’s needs and current political situation to better tailor the project, and identify achievable objectives for the project.

The team – AWLP Project Coordinator, Rosemary Kaduru and Programme Assistant Sara de la Peña – followed up on existing contacts with relevant stakeholders and reached out to international community representatives, national authorities, and civil society organizations, among others.

Meetings were held with Members of Parliament, women’s organizations, partner organization AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa), representatives from UNIFEM and the Delegation of the European Commission to Uganda, and consultants, including the Hon. Dora Byamukama and the Hon. Miria Matembe, both of whom have recently participated in AWLP missions to Sierra Leone.

Those with whom the delegation met commended the Club of Madrid and said the project was timely given the new parliament, inaugurated in May 2006, now organized on a multiparty basis after a long period of non party democracy in Uganda. There are currently 101 women in the national assembly (they occupy 30% of parliamentary seats), many of them newcomers who need skills to make them more effective in their roles as parliamentarians and leaders.

 

---

   

  

July 9 - 13, 2007. Training session for Women aspirants in the August elections.

 

Due to the overwhelming requests from participants in Sierra Leone, the AWLP conducted its second mission to the country from 9-13 July. This mission primarily served as a follow-up training session for participants. It was their explicit wish to have more time with experts in order to elaborate on issues covered during the first mission.

CoM Expert and Ugandan MP Miria Matembe led experience-sharing sessions for 40 women to empower them with essential skills for the 11 August presidential and legislative elections.  She was joined by AWLP coordinator Rosemary Kaduru.

The agenda for this mission included sessions discussing campaign strategies and methodologies, networking and collaboration, communication strategies as an instrument of visibility, and, finally, fundraising. The training took place in Freetown and was organized by the Club of Madrid and its local partner, the Campaign for Good Governance.

Miria Matembe has served as Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity and as a Member of the African Union Parliament. Her years of experience with the women's movement as head of the Action for Development and her fight for women's rights in Uganda make the Hon. Matembe a beneficial and encouraging role model for the women participating in Sierra Leone's 2007 elections.

 see the photos

watch the video

For more information about the mission, please visit the missions and activities section.

 

May 2007

Freetown, May 29-June 1, 2007.  First Mission to Sierra Leone: Framework for a Very Productive Dialogue

 

Club of Madrid Members Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada and Sir Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana, led the first mission to Sierra Leone in May 29-June 1. Hon. Dora Byamukama, former Member of the Parliament of Uganda and currently a Member of the East African Legislative Assembly, participated in the delegation as an expert.

This 3-day mission aimed to support women’s involvement in the 28 July presidential and legislative elections. The mission focus was on increasing gender awareness of male and female politicians, national authorities and the general public, in order to encourage women to increase their involvement as candidates, try to dismantle the stereotypes linking leadership to men, and to build the confidence of women politicians.

During this first mission the delegation was based in Freetown and travelled to two districts. Mission activities included the following:

- Meetings with women’s groups and civil society organizations to raise gender awareness on the importance of women’s involvement in politics, to encourage women to show interest in politics and build their confidence to contest for political leadership positions, and to share experiences.

- Meetings with female parliamentarians and female aspirants, and also with female ministers and senior female government administrative officers to share experiences and build confidence.

- Meeting with senior political party leaders to lobby for open political space for women’s participation and an increase in the number of women in political leadership positions, as well as to sensitize leaders on the importance of involving women in the political arena.

- Live interview at the national television station to spread the message of the importance of women’s political involvement using public media, and to sensitize public opinion.

- Meetings with paramount chiefs and with local council to raise gender awareness among traditional leaders on the importance of women’s involvement in politics, and to encourage an opening of the political space for competent women to participate in politics, by using their examples as a tool for advocacy.

- Meeting with youth leaders to raise gender awareness on the importance of women’s involvement in politics and to encourage women to show interest and  participate in politics and build their confidence to contest for political leadership positions.

- Meeting with the President and Vice President to encourage an open political space for women’s participation and an increase of women in political leadership positions.

see the photos

For more information about the mission, please visit the missions and activities section.

 

---

 

March 2007

Abuja, March 25-28, 2007. CoM's African Women Leaders Project begins with a preparatory meeting in Abuja

 

The Club of Madrid today launched the African Women Leaders Project (AWLP) today at a meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

Project co-chairs are Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, and Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania. They and other Club of Madrid members –66 former Presidents and Prime Ministers of democratic countries around the world– are expected to participate in the project.

Project staff from the Club of Madrid and its partners are meeting in Abuja this week (March 25-27) to begin project implementation. Local implementing partners are the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in Nigeria and the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) and the Network of Women Ministers and Parliamentarians (NEWMAP) in Sierra Leone. International associate partners include UNIFEM, host of the implementation meeting, European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA), and the Council of Women World Leaders.

The meeting will allow all project partners, associates and experts to discuss the needs, objectives and planned activities of the project, as well as to fix the timetable, the distribution of roles, and determine the administrative and managerial procedures.

For more information about the meeting, please visit the missions and activities section.
 

February 2007

 

Madrid, February 15, 2007. Club of Madrid launches the African Women Leaders Project

 

The Club of Madrid has launched  the African Women Leaders Project (AWLP)today, which will provide support to high-level women leaders in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

This 18-month initiative, undertaken with funding from the European Commission’s Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, will contribute to the strengthening of female political leadership and, in the long-term, to greater public confidence in women political leaders and increased women’s political participation. This project seeks to provide women political leaders new resources and skills to strengthen political leadership; identify and share best practices from the region and internationally on increasing women’s political participation, including gender quotas and other affirmative action policies; facilitate the sharing of experiences and dialogue between national women parliamentarians and outstanding women political leaders in Africa and throughout the world; establish high-level, specialized networks among reform-minded leaders in the region and internationally, to enable the sharing of knowledge and resources; promote greater gender awareness; sensitize political leaders and the public on the obstacles to women’s political participation and the centrality of equal political participation for a functioning democracy; and increase women's political participation in target countries through devising relevant advocacy strategies and the identification of feasible policy options.